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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Significant U.S. Casualties in Iraq; Alleged Chemical Attack Foiled
Aired April 06, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Marines under attack, massive fighting in Ramadi, significant U.S. casualties. We'll bring you the latest.
An alleged chemical attack foiled. Police round up suspects but are they al Qaeda?
The tenth anniversary of genocide in Rwanda. I covered the carnage and we'll take you back to the scene of the crime.
Rush Limbaugh fights back on the record, his medical records, can he keep them sealed?
The power of forgiveness can it save your life? Meet one woman who thinks it has and one man who will teach you how to forgive.
And, J to the hello, Jennifer Lopez' mom pockets $2.4 million at the slots. How lucky can this family get?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening.
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: We begin with breaking news out of Iraq. Insurgents are fighting U.S. Marines right now in the western city of Ramadi. According to initial reports, the Marines are attacking several government buildings that were taken over earlier by insurgent forces.
As many as a dozen U.S. troops are dead says the Pentagon initial reports. They also say there were heavy enemy casualties. Events on the ground are moving fast and we're going to continue to follow this story as it develops over the next hour.
Right now three reports, Senior International Correspondent Walt Rodgers in Baghdad, next Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre following the action at the Pentagon. He's also got news of new threats on the live of Civilian Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer. And, from the White House, Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us actually from Crawford, Texas with the administration's reaction to events.
We begin, however, in Iraq, Walt what's the latest from Ramadi?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this is yet another revolt against the American military occupation of this country. Ramadi is 60 miles due west of Baghdad. It's in the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle where for the past year most of the resistance of the American occupation of this country has emanated from.
We're told that a few hours ago about 100 insurgents, Iraqi Sunnis, many of them perhaps from the old army of Saddam Hussein rose up, took -- tried to force their way into government buildings there. The usual target is the police station.
The U.S. Marines are responsible for defending that particular sector here in Iraq. The Marines were called in. We're told the fighting has been quite heavy and savage. Upwards of 12 Marines are now dead in that fighting. At least a dozen other Marines injured.
We're not at all clear whether the Marines have been able to drive off the insurgents at this point but it is, as I said, yet another example of the revolt against the -- the spreading revolt against the American military occupation of this country -- Anderson.
COOPER: Walt, let's talk about two other areas of interest right now, Fallujah and also the action against Sadr. What do you know about both those fronts?
RODGERS: Well, Fallujah is just a few miles east of Ramadi, again part of the Sunni Triangle and we know the Marines have launched yet another assault on that city.
Their aim, their target there and they've been fighting there about two days now has been to drive out the insurgents there, the Sunnis who were particularly responsible for the heinous killing of those four civilian contractors a week ago Wednesday. The fighting, as I say, continues there. That's a very tough town. If the Marines go door-to-door you can expect even higher casualties there.
As for Muqtada al-Sadr, the militant Shiite cleric who the United States now wants to try to arrest, he's moved his headquarters to an area very close to the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf and we're also told that his forces now control much of the area of al-Najaf itself.
Again, that's yet another revolt that one by Shiite Muslims and Sadr is wanted by the United States but he's very well protected by his own private army -- Anderson.
COOPER: We continue to monitor events very closely. Walter, we'll check back in with you shortly from Baghdad.
Jamie McIntyre is following the military side in Ramadi at the Pentagon. Jamie, reports are still coming in. What have you learned so far? JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're still waiting to hear whether all the fighting is over and calm has been restored there but, as Walter reported, as many as 12 Marines killed, possibly as many as 20 wounded and heavy enemy casualties inflicted as well in this firefight.
They believe they're dealing with here more of the former regime members, the Ba'athist sympathizers similar to those who have been putting up stiff resistance in Fallujah, a city about 25 miles to the east of Ramadi in the Sunni Triangle but the military at this point is still sorting out what has happened.
This will, though, go down as one of the deadliest days in Iraq, certainly one of the deadliest since major combat with these 12 Marines killed. When you add casualties in other parts of the country, including in Fallujah, it's likely to exceed the previous deadliest day, November 15th, in which 19 U.S. troops were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.
As Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said today, Anderson, there will be good days and bad days. Clearly here at the Pentagon they see this as a bad day -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jamie, we've also been following these reports about threats against the life of Ambassador Paul Bremer. What's the latest on that?
MCINTYRE: Yes, not just for Paul Bremer but also General John Abizaid, the U.S. Central Commander. Of course he's not in Iraq that often, Bremer is, and on a Web site today which is known as a clearinghouse for militant Islamic messages, an audio recording posted by a man claiming to be Abu Mussa al-Zarqawi, a close associate of Osama bin Laden, somebody that the Pentagon has identified as somebody they believe is behind some of these attacks saying that, according to the translation CNN has conducted that they are after John Abizaid. They are after Bremer.
"We will kill them and hunt them down like birds. We will cut off every road from them and just walk away," the language on this Web site, which although the U.S. government is still reviewing it, CNN's independent experts believe is in fact the voice of Zarqawi -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jamie McIntyre following fast-moving events at the Pentagon, thanks Jamie.
The Bush administration is following events in Iraq closely, of course. With us now from Crawford, Texas, White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, President Bush is at his Crawford ranch and he is being briefed on all of the developments on the ground in Iraq.
A White House spokesman tonight reiterating the president's message what he has been saying for days and for weeks that the "administration remains committed to finishing the job in Iraq. It is very clear from what the generals and commanders have said that they U.S. will respond in the time and fashion of our choosing."
Now, administration sources tell us that President Bush will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair next Friday at the White House. This is a meeting that was set up several weeks ago and is not in response to the chaos, the violence we've seen on the ground in Iraq over the last 72 hours.
But having said that, administration sources say that this will be priority number one in their talks. They're going to talk about the strategy to turn over power back to the Iraqi people. They'll also talk about how to work with the United Nations to come up with a workable governing body inside of Iraq that can handle that task and the importance of meeting that June 30 deadline.
President Bush earlier today speaking in general terms about the U.S. strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will pass sovereignty on June 30. We'll stay the course in Iraq. We're not going to be intimidated by thugs or assassins. We're not going to cut and run from the people who long for freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And administration officials say that that June 30 deadline still stands, why, because the Iraqis want it, because the U.S. said that it would go through with it. It's a matter of credibility. Also they want to internationalize the transformation.
They don't want an American face on this and also they say this is a political deadline, a political transition here. This has nothing to do with the military. They say that -- Secretary Rumsfeld assured that U.S. military presence will be inside that country for some time -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux in Crawford thanks very much.
CNN has confirmed that a plot to allegedly detonate a chemical bomb in Britain has been foiled, according to U.S. and U.K. sources. CNN Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar has the details from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Counterterrorism police have foiled an apparent plot to launch a chemical attack in Britain that according to U.S. and U.K. security sources who say the suspects had plans to lace a bomb with a chemical called osmium tetroxide. The plot was to combine that chemical with explosives that could create a toxic cloud on detonation. Sources told CNN police suspect such a device could have been used to target a shopping center, an airport terminal, a nightclub or a crowded city center. There is no suggestion by police sources that any osmium tetroxide was found in the possession of the suspects or that they had managed to obtain any.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman at Scotland Yard said they were not prepared to discuss the alleged plot. Chemical experts say osmium tetroxide is toxic, openly available and used primarily in research laboratories. It can give off a vapor which would (AUDIO GAP) lethal. This is the first time osmium tetroxide has been associated with an alleged terrorist plot.
British police have been given more time to question nine men in custody under the terrorism act. They were arrested last week and police recovered half a ton of fertilizer which can be used as an explosive.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of the nine, a 17-year-old, was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions with intent to injure or damage property. A lawyer for three of the detainees declined to comment.
Two men have been arrested elsewhere and, in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have issued a statement acknowledging that the arrest of a 24-year-old computer software designer in Ottawa is linked to the British arrests.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We continue to monitor events out of Iraq and we will bring you updates throughout the hour.
We're following also a number of developing stories right now "Cross Country." Let's take a quick look.
From coast to coast, you know what I'm going to say, gas prices hit an all time high again. AAA Auto Club reports the national average price for a gallon of self serve regular unleaded is $1.77, the highest price on record without factoring in inflation of course. It's a little more than six cents higher than it was at this time last year.
Seattle, Washington now, federal government sued. The ACLU has filed a complaint against the government's no-fly list. The list is meant to keep suspected terrorists off commercial airlines but the ACLU claims it leads to the harassment of innocent travelers.
In London, Kentucky, a deadly fiery crash. Police say two people were killed when a truck carrying chemicals hit a car, burst into flames late last night. A section of Interstate 75 was closed through the morning rush hour.
Tallahassee, Florida now, illegal immigrants driving legally. Governor Jeb Bush is endorsing a bill that would grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants provided they undergo a screening. Opponents are concerned about security but Bush says there are enough safeguards to prevent terrorists from getting the licenses.
And Chicago, Illinois, sex and cancer, a new study published in the "Journal of American Medical Associations" says frequent sexual activity does not cause prostate cancer. The study also says men who ejaculate often may be getting protection from the disease. That's a quick look at stories "Cross Country" for you tonight.
As many as 12 U.S. troops killed in Iraq today, the most intense fighting since the end of the war. Happening right now, monitoring the story closely, we're going to bring you updates as we get them.
Also from drought to downpour, the Midwest gets socked with flash flooding. Look at those pictures. We're going to go live to Austin, Texas for a report on how bad it is.
Plus, genocide in Rwanda, ten years ago today. How quickly we forget. I'm going to take you back ten years for a personal tour of the devastation.
And forgiveness, can it actually heal your body? You're going to meet one woman who says it has and a man who says he can teach you to forgive, part of our week long series "The Power of Forgiveness."
Before all that, let's take a quick look "Inside the Box," top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: Breaking news from Iraq, fierce fighting in the city of Ramadi. As many as 12 U.S. Marines dead after insurgents launched a large scale attack just hours ago.
It is not clear at this moment if the fighting continues. We're going to continue following the story. We're monitoring events from the Pentagon, also from Iraq. We're going to bring you updates as warranted.
But first let's move to what's going on in Texas, deadly storms crossed the Mexican border and made their way into the Lone Star state. Heavy rains, hail and wind slammed Texas streets, flooded the streets, power failed.
It was ugly. At least six people were killed in weather related accidents since the weekend. One woman died after her car was swept away by floodwaters. There are more flood warnings tonight.
James Keith of CNN affiliate News 8 Austin sets the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES KEITH, NEWS 8 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The morning commute got off to a bad start after several cars were swept away by flood. One driver spun out of control and ended up in about four feet of water. Police helped him out of the truck safely. Once crews got the truck out of the ditch he was able to drive away.
Farther up the highway the outcome wasn't so good. There was a deadly accident on 183 North of 2243. It happened around 5:30 in the morning. Emergency crews worked quick and had the scene cleared within a couple hours.
Strong winds in Williamston County caused many people to wake up in the dark. The winds caused trees to fall down on power lines.
ERIC POTEET, ROUND ROCK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, we had a fairly significant power outage, 5,000 residents lost power. Fortunately that was restored to them within an hour, hour and a half. As the morning rush hour came, we had a lot of problems with signal lights being out.
KEITH: The storms also tore up the landscape in one area of Cedar Park. Residents in the Hidden Valley subdivision found a lot of downed trees in the neighborhood.
And probably the worst damage from the storm was when lightning hit this house in the Steiner (ph) Ranch neighborhood. Take a look at this home video shot by News 8 viewer Carol Keith. Hudson Bend firefighters were able to get the fire under control in less than an hour. Neighbors say it was a frightening wake-up call.
CAROL KEITH, NEIGHBOR: Just watching my son take off for school with my husband and all of a sudden this humongous loud clap of thunder and lighting was instantaneous. It made us all jump.
My husband took my son up to school and then on his way back he said the house up the street has smoke coming out of the roof of it and so we ran to the front window and watched as it burst into flames.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH: And fortunately no one was living in that home and no one was injured. Forecasters do say we could see some more rain over the next few days but nothing like we saw today -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, James Keith. Thanks very much James.
In addition to the fighting in Iraq, we're tracking a number of developing stories around the globe right now. Let's quickly check the "Up Link."
Going to Madrid, Spain, security sweeps. Faced with new terror threats, soldiers are patrolling nuclear power plants, train lines and other key targets. In Madrid, police say they found the remains of a sixth suspect who blew himself up in a terror raid over the weekend.
Amman, Jordan, terror trial, a court convicts ten people for the 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Jordan. Eight of the ten sentenced to death. They were all found guilty of having links with al Qaeda. Kabul, Afghanistan, a jihad on drugs, President Hamid Karzai declares a holy war on the country's booming drug trade. Last year's harvest of opium poppies was the source of three-quarters of the world's heroin.
Geneva, Switzerland, top executioners in 2003, China, Iran, the U.S. and Vietnam put the most people to death according to Amnesty International. Eighty-four percent of all documented executions happened in those countries. The report did say the total number of executions worldwide has gone down.
And in Paris, a royal reception, Queen Elizabeth of England addresses the French Senate. That's her in the blue hat there. She calls for French and British unity in the face of today's terror threats. Her three-day visit is meant to ease tensions between the two countries, most recently over the war in Iraq. That's a quick look at tonight's "Up Link" for you.
Every Tuesday we look at a story the media seems to have forgotten about, "How quickly we forget." Tonight, we remember the genocide in Rwanda. As many as a million people killed in a matter of months. It began ten years ago today.
Back then I was a young reporter with Channel 1 News. I actually went into Rwanda with Tutsi rebels fighting to end the genocide by Hutu Rwandans. Some of the images you're about to see in this report are disturbing. This is what I saw ten years ago when I went to a Rwandan hospital in a town called Gahini (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The children's ward is crowded with members of the Tutsi minority, victims of attacking Hutus. They cut fingers from a child too young to walk. Annie Foray (ph) is a French doctor who has volunteered to work here despite a shortage of medicine and food.
What sort of wounds? How were they wounded, guns?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Unintelligible.)
COOPER: And where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In their head, in their -- especially in the foot because when you cut here the muscles you prevent the children to run. They cannot run.
COOPER: Why are they cutting off hands and fingers and ears? Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's wrong.
COOPER: Scattered throughout the countryside you find the bodies. Five people lay in a row, a family perhaps.
(on camera): When I was in Rwanda about a year and a half ago, as you drive down the road a lot of little kids would sort of run by and wave at you. Nowadays most of the people are all gone and the only people on the side of the roads are dead. The smell of rotting flesh is everywhere in the air.
(voice-over): You stare at the bodies, try to make sense of it, search for answers but you find none. All you find are more bodies and the silence, the silence is what gets to you, broken only by the sound of flies and the buzzards circling overhead waiting for you to leave.
(on camera): Just about everywhere in Rwanda, every road you go down there's just debris strewn all around, just the people's possessions, the remnants of their former life. Even right here, this is a casing for a machine gun. The bullets are still in it. It's an AK-47. A picture from a book, a picture of the pope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That was ten years ago. As many as a million people were slaughtered in just 100 days in Rwanda while much of the world stood by in silence. Today, around 80,000 prisoners remain in the country's overcrowded jails accused of genocide related crimes. Only 20 have been convicted.
We continue to follow the breaking news out of Iraq tonight. At least ten U.S. troops killed during a fierce firefight that's underway right now at last report in the city of Ramadi. We'll get the latest as it unfolds throughout the hour.
Plus coming up, the power of forgiveness," can it actually heal your body, part of our week long series.
Also tonight, Rush Limbaugh fighting to get his medical records back. Has he been singled out for being a celebrity?
And a little later, cancer labels on French fries? Why Californians may get a stern warning when they super size.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: Marines under fire in Iraq. At least a dozen dead after insurgents attack in Ramadi. Plus, death threats against American leaders. We're going to go live to Baghdad for the latest. That's coming up in just a few moments.
But first, this week as Christian and Jews around the world celebrate Holy Week and Passover, we continue our special series on forgiveness. Tonight, researchers are turning to the healing power of forgiveness to reduce stress, to prevent disease. In a moment we'll introduce you to an expert who teaches people how to forgive.
But first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us the story of a woman who says learning to forgive after a tragedy saved her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over the past 15 years it was the little things, like playing a quiet game with the family, that were almost impossible for Linda Marra. Her life and subsequently her health shattered when her father was murdered. The nightmares were etched into her brain for years.
LINDA MARRA, FATHER WAS MURDERED: My father lived through this homicide one time and I've lived through it 1,000 times.
GUPTA: The assailant was put in jail but for Linda that punishment didn't seem enough for her to forgive and an unforgiving heart took its toll. The first sign her hair turned gray at age 29.
MARRA: There was weight gain, insomnia, fatigue.
GUPTA: A teacher and mother of two, Linda realized her refusal to forgive could eventually kill her.
MARRA: It eats you alive from the inside out.
GUPTA: Un-forgiveness causes stress that not only permeates the mind but the body as well and that stress causes microscopic tears to form in artery walls which, over time, can cause a heart attack.
It also causes spikes in the stress hormone cortisol which can hurt your immune system and we're not just talking about stress stemming from horrific crimes but the build up from a day, an argument, getting cut off in traffic.
EVERETT WORTHINGTON, PSYCHOLOGIST: If a person begins to try to forgive more they can affect their health in a more positive way.
GUPTA: A University of Michigan study supports that. Men who are good at diffusing their anger had half as many strokes as angrier men. For Linda, forgiving her father's killer meant erasing her health problems. She says it was like being released from prison.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, our next guest is a pioneer in this field. Dr. Frederick Luskin, he's a psychologist and author of the book "Forgive for Good, a Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness." He's also co-founder of Stanford University's Forgiveness Project. I asked him what his research has taught his thus far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED LUSKIN, PH.D., CO-FOUNDER, STANFORD FORGIVENESS PROJECT: Forgiveness is a way of looking at the world that seems to reduce the stress on people's body and when the stress on people's body is reduced the body gets a better chance to heal itself or becomes less vulnerable to illness. COOPER: You talk about four steps that you recommend people can actually practice on their own. Let's go through them and talk about each one. The first step catch stress in the moment. What does that mean?
LUSKIN: That's the most important one. That is when you feel the memory or the bad feeling come up for you that's the moment that you got to work at it and we have found that if you stop the stress response where the body is getting excited or agitated if you can calm that down right that second then your mind can clear and you get a better chance to think and when you do that regularly you become less influenced or less hurt by what people have done to you.
COOPER: And the second step is accept what you cannot change, what do you mean?
LUSKIN: There are certain things in life that happen that are painful that may be even awful. There's nothing you can do about it. You need to accept that that's possible and true and save your energy for working and maybe trying to change things that can be changed.
COOPER: And step three, change the story.
LUSKIN: The way we keep things alive is how we talk about them and, if we talk about them in a way that say allows us to be continuously hurt by it, that's one way. What we teach people is go from victim to hero of their own story.
COOPER: And finally, the fourth step to forgiveness you talk about look for what's good and happy.
LUSKIN: Sometimes you have to look for the goodness. You have to look for kindness and you have to look for what's already working in your life and we teach people to make that effort to kind of put the hurt into balance.
COOPER: But you're not suggesting that, you know, someone loses a loved one through -- someone gets killed, you're not suggesting that automatically instantly they should feel a sense of forgiveness.
LUSKIN: No and, in fact, we define forgiveness as the end of the grief process and the grief process has to take its time, has to be felt and has to be experienced before you can even think about forgiveness.
COOPER: What's the biggest misconception about forgiveness?
LUSKIN: One is that forgiveness means you have to go home and get beaten again by someone or you have to come back into a relationship that's horrendous and that when you forgive it means that what happened to you is OK. Both of those are not true.
When you forgive it's forgiving something that wasn't OK. You come to peace about it and you don't have to ever return to a situation that was horrific or where you were beaten or abused. COOPER: And you know I mean some people who have experienced trauma get upset by this notion of forgiveness. We've received some e-mails already this week about this series. Are you saying someone who lost a loved one on 9/11 should forgive Osama bin Laden?
LUSKIN: There's no should. Everybody's got their own process. What we teach is that you really want forgiveness on your menu so that you can choose whether it's right for you.
COOPER: It's a fascinating topic. Fred Luskin thanks for being on the program.
LUSKIN: You're very welcome. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Our series on forgiveness continues tomorrow night with the look at cheating spouses. What do you do if you can forgive but you can't forget. How to heal a broken heart. That is tomorrow on 360. On Thursday, overcoming the pain of sexual abuse. Are some things unforgivable? We're going to hear from both sides of the debate. Then on Friday, can you ever really forgive yourself? You'll meet a woman who sent an innocent man to jail and is haunted to this day by guilt. All that coming up in our series.
Coming up later tonight, breaking news out of Iraq. As many as 12 marines have died. We'll go live to Baghdad when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Take a look at our top stories in tonight's reset. Ramadi, Iraq, the battle goes on. At last report the Pentagon says about a dozen marines have died in fighting in the western Iraq city of Ramadi. Insurgents attacked the marines' base there as well as captured several government buildings. We're going to go live to Iraq for a report in just a few moments.
Denver, Colorado. Kobe Bryant's ordeal. The NBA star's lawyer says he's had it pretty bad, too. In response to a plea from Bryant's accuser in the sexual assault case, attorneys for the basketball star say he's ready to get the trial over with also. They say Bryant's ordeal has been, quote, "indescribable."
New York City. The Tyco letter wasn't a threat. Police say the letter to the Tyco juror that caused the judge to declare a mistrial was not a threat to the woman. Investigators have spoken with the man who wrote the letter. They met with him after the trial ended.
Northern Mexico. More death from flooding. Rescue workers have pulled another three bodies from the wreckage of destroyed homes today. That brings the death toll there to 34. Flash floods ripped through the normally arid area on Tuesday. A dozen people are still missing. The death toll could go higher. That's a look at today's reset.
Now to the breaking news out of Iraq. Marines in a pitched battle against Iraqi insurgents. We've been following this all hour. Some are calling it the stiffest opposition since the official end to major combat. Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us now from Baghdad with the latest. Walter, what do you know?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson. The marines do, indeed, have a difficult scrap on their hands tonight. Difficult fighting because it is street to street, it is night and the marines are fighting in unfamiliar territory. The territory is Ramadi, a town about 60 miles west of Baghdad. It is in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. That area has been the head and target resistance against the U.S. military occupation for the last year. What we're told is that several hours ago, a group of upwards of 100 Sunni insurgents seized government buildings in Ramadi. Presumably, one of those was the police station. That's the normal target.
They've seized those governments buildings. This is the U.S. marine sector of responsibility. The marines were called in to eject the insurgents. Savage fighting broke out. We're told that upwards of 12 marines have been killed already. At least that many have been injured. The casualties for the Iraqis are said to be even higher. The resistance in Ramadi is believed to be old members of the Baathist party that Saddam Hussein's party and actually members of the old Iraqi army -- Anderson.
COOPER: Tough day for U.S. forces on the ground. Walter Rodgers, we'll check in with you again, thanks very much.
Justice served. Tomorrow in Florida, attorneys for Rush Limbaugh will argue in court what the radio host has been arguing on the airwaves, that his privacy rights were violated when prosecutors seized his medical records. Limbaugh, of course, under investigation for buying massive amounts of prescription pain killers. CNN's Susan Candiotti is following the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attorney Roy Black is leading a spirited defense. Black asks why Limbaugh is being criminally pursued when other admitted drug addict celebrities including singer Whitney Houston apparently are not.
ROY BLACK, LIMBAUGH'S ATTORNEY: Why is it that Rush Limbaugh, they demand to plead guilty to a crime? That's because they want to embarrass him and disgrace him and discredit him. That's the only reason why.
CANDIOTTI: Law enforcement sources deny political motives. They say they could not ignore serious allegations by Limbaugh's former housekeeper who then sold her story to a tabloid. She claims she illegally sold Limbaugh thousands of prescription pain killers, a possible felony.
MICHAEL MCAULIFFE, ATTORNEY: A prosecutor's office is investigating a person for abuse of prescription drugs. Do you think that the prosecutor's office should get to take a look at that person's records of prescription drug use?
CANDIOTTI: All along, prosecutors have insisted they've done everything by the book. An appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments over whether Limbaugh's medical records were improperly seized. If prosecutors lose, they will not say how that could affect their high-profile investigation. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Covering the case for us tonight, 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney has called this a fishing expedition, he's also called it a smear pain. Does he have a point?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: I hate to say it, I think he does actually because there's two ways they could have gone about doing this. This all came to light because of the "Enquire" article and then Rush Limbaugh went on the air to defend himself and say he had a problem and he was going to address it.
Prosecutors then chose to go by way of a search warrant. What Roy Black is saying is that's not the way it should have been done. They should have gotten a subpoena. The judge would have held the documents, reviewed it and he would have been on notice and they could come in to argue to say the prosecutors couldn't get that information. Without this, if this -- if these judges suppress this information and these medical records, they have no case.
COOPER: And no charges have been filed. That's what I keep coming back to. There are no charges.
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: No charges in this case. There's why he's calling it a fishing expedition. And without this information -- keep in mind, we all go to the doctor every day. Imagine if you had to worry about someone going in behind your back without your knowledge, no notice here, and taking your records and combing through your personal things.
COOPER: So without these medical records does the prosecution even have a case even though they don't have a case now because they haven't filed any charges?
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think it's going to be difficult to go forward. I would imagine they would not proceed forward with charges and that's why this is such a huge issue. My goodness, strange bedfellows, the ACLU is standing in line to support Rush Limbaugh in this case.
COOPER: The records are seized with a search warrant signed by two different judges. What's the likelihood they're going to get the warrant thrown out?
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: You know, trial judges and judges at that level, everyone makes mistakes, right? That's why we have all this case law. So it goes to this three-judge panel and they'll decide if it was appropriate. This deals directly with the fundamental right of privacy. On balance is the prosecution's right to conduct criminal investigations and they say we don't have to give defendants notice that we're coming after him. Rush put himself out there in the public light like so many others have that are later used against them.
COOPER: He continues to talk about it on his radio program. Can that stuff can be used -- I suppose, of course, it can be used in court. If it has any bearing on it.
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: We've seen so many people get out and talk on court or on TV about their -- Martha Stewart, Scott Peterson, all these things can be used against them and that's what we saw with Martha Stewart, the charges brought as a result of the things she said. They say, hey, you lied to the government and you went out on public airwaves and said you didn't do anything wrong. This affected the stock price. Now we see the same thing happening over and over again. It begs the question of the role of the media and some of these newspapers, et cetera, have in the role of cases, even with the Tyco juror.
COOPER: All right. If I'm ever convicted I'm not going to say a word. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, thanks very much.
A second lease on life. Conjoined twins make it through a risky operation and go home as separate individuals. A remarkable story. We'll talk to one of the doctors who performed the life-saving surgery.
Also tonight, they're not exactly health food, but are they cause for cancer?
Find out why Californians may soon find warning labels on their french fries. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, they are living apart and that is a good thing. Two formerly conjoined Egyptian twins are now home, separated in Dallas last October in an operation that lasted 34 hours. Yesterday, doctors announced the defense twins were discharged last month and are back with their family. Joining us now in Dallas, and to discuss the separation process and what happens now, Dr. David Genecov, medical director of the International Craniofacial Institute. Appreciate you being on the program, doctor.
These two little kids, Mohamed and Ahmed, they have been discharged, are they out of the woods?
DR. DAVID GENECOV, INTERNATIONAL CRANIOFACIAL INSTITUTE: Well, I don't know if they're necessarily out of the woods. They still have surgeries to undergo later this summer and they still have a lot of physical and occupational therapy to undergo. So, I wouldn't say they're out of the woods, but we're cautiously optimistic they're going to do very well long term.
COOPER: How long a process of surgeries and reconstructive surgeries are involved here? We see them now in these images wearing helmets. I mean, how long will they have to do that?
GENECOV: Well, they wear their helmets until the reconstruction of their skulls has been completed and their skulls have reossified (ph) or gotten harder and turned to normal bone.
COOPER: Sir, pardon my ignorance on this, do they not have part of their skull on the top of their head or what is there?
GENECOV: Right. Imagine taking a coke can and cutting it in half. Both ends are now open and that's the way their skulls were after the separation. So the brains were covered with tissue from their thighs and from around their skull as well as their scalp. As large scalp flaps were created to cover the brain. So that's going to allow healing to take place to last at least a minimum of six months until the surgeons believe they'll be ready for their next operation.
COOPER: And we saw them in that video playing. They looked, you know, like regular kids. Are they going to be able to lead, if all goes well, completely functional lives?
GENECOV: We hope that they'll lead completely functional lives. Their favorite sport now is basketball. They love to play basketball. They're not like any different from any other 3-year-old boys. One of them is walking well. The other one is standing and learning to walk. I think over the next few years with good therapy, they should do quite well.
COOPER: They're going to have to grow a little bit taller to get better at basketball. Doctor Genevoc, appreciate you joining us talking about the surgery, thank you very much.
GENECOV: Thank you.
COOPER: Now, to a political hot potato, whether to warn consumers about a possible link between cancer and french fries. Those golden greasy spuds and other starchy foods are at the center of a super-sized squabble.
Rusty Dornin explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You might call it a national pastime.
Ed Kelly, does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're going to stop eating french fries, I don't know what's going on happen.
DORNIN: Everyone knows they're not exactly health mood but the detection of a potential carcinogen called acrylamide, might force the state of California to require this Phillip Papadopoulos and other restaurant owners to post signs informing customers. PHILLIP PAPADOPOULOS, THE JAVA HOUSE: I still say it's stupid. Because after this, it will be something else and something else and something else, and we have to have nothing but signs. And that doesn't make any sense.
DORNIN: The signs in California are everywhere. Under proposition 65, businesses even parking garages must post signs cautioning about hazardous substances. Acrylamide is known to cause cancer in rats but the risk to humans is unknown. French fries is not the only known culprit. The chemical that form during cooking, is in everything from olives to breads and almonds and cereal. Researchers say they can't prove whether there's a risk. That posture is too risky for this environmental attorney Daphael Metzger. He's filed suit against Burger King and McDonald's saying they should put warnings right on french fry containers.
DAPHAEL METZGER, ATTORNEY: People have a right to know if food that they buy causes cancer so they can make informed decisions about their health.
DORNIN: Don't expect caution signs your favorite California burger joint any time soon. The attorney general is investigating and so is the FDA. And if talk of clogged arteries and heart problems hasn't stopped some consumers, why should we expect this latest scare to be any different?
PAPADOPOULOS: Hmm. What a way to die.
DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A pop star and a jackpot. JLo's mom hits it big on the slots. I have to ask you, can the Lopez family get any luckier?
And an aging rocker selling lingerie?
Bob Dylan, we're going to tell you about his latest plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, after officials in Inglewood, California, snubbed Wal-Mart's plans to build one of its superstores there, Wal-Mart decided to take its proposal to the people, putting the issue on the ballot. Right now, California voters are heading to the polls to either embrace or snub the retail giant's westward expansion. Frank Buckley has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an especially ambitious plan, even for the giant Wal-Mart, because the company is trying to develop this huge site without submitting to the normal development process. No environmental impact reports, no traffic studies, no public hearings. Voters will decide directly on a 71-page ballot initiative that outlines the project in detail. BOB MCADAM, WAL-MART, VP OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: We get approval to build this store, it will meet every single or exceed every single code in the city of Inglewood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to save your business.
BUCKLEY: Opponents include the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: Wal-Mart has disrespected Inglewood.
BUCKLEY: Others say Wal-Mart is trying to steamroll the project over the city's elected leaders.
REV. ALTAGRACIA PEREZ, COALITION FOR BETTER INGLEWOOD: It is 71 pages of legal fine print that seeks to cut the community out of its own development process.
BUCKLEY: Wal-Mart's Bob McAdam says the company chose this approach when city council members signaled they wouldn't support the project no matter what.
MCADAM: This is not in any kind of an end run. It's just the normal process of letting voters decide.
BUCKLEY: Mayor Roosevelt Dorn is the project's only supporter on the city council. He says opposition to the project has less to do with the process and more to do with labor unions opposing Wal-Mart's non-union work force.
MAYOR ROOSEVELT DORN, MAYOR OF INGLEWOOD: The issue is, they do not want groceries sold in this development unless they're union. They're interested in what? Union dues.
BUCKLEY: Wal-Mart officials hope that consumers will support their stores, not just with their wallets this time, but also with their votes.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Inglewood, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, on a day of tough news, like we had today, we'd like to add some lighter fare, so let's dip our toes for a moment in the pop culture "Current." See what's going on.
Bob Dylan is singing for a thong. Yep, the legendary rocker is featured in the latest television ads for Victoria's Secret. This news item will be bagged, tagged and entered into evidence to prove yet again rock'n'roll is dead.
Kelly Osbourne has checked into rehab for a dependence on painkillers. "The L.A. Times" also reports that Ozzy Osbourne is accusing a Beverly Hills doctor of overprescribing him addictive drugs. Osbourne reportedly blames the drugs for his bizarre and erratic behavior on the reality show "The Osbournes." No explanation, however, for what caused his bizarre and erratic behavior on "Bark at the Moon."
'70s super group Abba -- or is it Abba? I think it's Abba. Says nothing, not even $2 billion, could convince the band members to get back together. In an unrelated story, I'm pleased to announce that the 360 bake sale to raise money to prevent Abba from reuniting was a smashing success. Thanks for all your cookies.
And an L.A. judge clears the way for Courtney Love's trial on drug charges next month. The case can go forward because the judge has allowed some key evidence to be presented. It's believed the evidence is any footage of any public appearance Love has ever made in her life, ever.
Well, how lucky can one family be? J.Lo is no longer the only Lopez on the block with the million-dollar moves. Her mother, Guadalupe, a retired kindergarten teacher, hit the $2.4 million jackpot in Atlantic City. She's reportedly a longtime gambling fan. Adaora Udoji has the winning story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's luck in a casino, and then there's luck. That's what Guadalupe Lopez, mom of superstar J.Lo, discovered here on the ritzy floors of an Atlantic City casino. Surrounded by friends, not including her famed daughter, she scored big on this wheel of fortune.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her immediate reaction was a little more humbled and quiet and more of a surprised reaction. The people around her did the hooting and the hollering and the screaming.
UDOJI: A $2.4 million purse. That's a pot of gold to most people. Not for the family of a pop star with hit music videos.
When you consider her thespian daughter's estimated worth at $100 million, it's a relative drop in the bucket.
On the block, the Capitol Hill neighborhood of the Bronx, some wondered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Weird coincidence. Very weird.
UDOJI: Back before the Hollywood movies and hit albums, Jennifer Lopez lived in this simple house and her mother taught at the nearby Catholic elementary school. The Lopezes still visit occasionally, say neighbors, who are thrilled about the casino windfall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be so happy because I know Ms. Lopez. She is a nice lady, very nice to everybody around here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's cool, that's nice. They got more money now.
UDOJI (on camera): You think they need it? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UDOJI (voice-over): It's not about need. It's about making it, and the folks here love happy endings.
(on camera): So what did you think of that story?
BENNY LORENZO, LOPEZ NEIGHBOR: Beautiful. I'm going to be next.
UDOJI (voice-over): Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So the biggest thing I'm surprised about is that Adaora Udoji called Jennifer Lopez a thespian. I think that's probably the first time she's ever been called a thespian. I don't know.
Still ahead, he was called the father of the Green Berets and his contribution to the U.S. military will not soon be forgotten. We'll take the legacy of a soldier to "The Nth Degree."
Plus, tomorrow, should you forgive a cheating spouse? One couple shares their journey from betrayal to reconciliation. Our special series on forgiveness continues tomorrow on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking a special soldier to "The Nth Degree." You probably don't recognize Colonel Aaron Bank, but what he did for this country is remarkable. In 1939, when war clouds were brewing over Europe, Bank joined the Army. When the war came, he volunteered for hit-and-run missions behind Nazi lines. Bank served in Korea as well, but the war he will most be remembered for waging and winning was a bureaucratic one. Despite stiff opposition in the Pentagon, Bank helped create an train the Army's special forces, the Green Berets. If it wasn't clear to some at the time why America needed elite units trained in unconventional warfare, it is certainly clear now. Colonel Bank died Thursday at the age of 101. He was a husband and a father, not just to his two daughters, but to thousands of special forces soldiers who followed in his footsteps.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 6, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Marines under attack, massive fighting in Ramadi, significant U.S. casualties. We'll bring you the latest.
An alleged chemical attack foiled. Police round up suspects but are they al Qaeda?
The tenth anniversary of genocide in Rwanda. I covered the carnage and we'll take you back to the scene of the crime.
Rush Limbaugh fights back on the record, his medical records, can he keep them sealed?
The power of forgiveness can it save your life? Meet one woman who thinks it has and one man who will teach you how to forgive.
And, J to the hello, Jennifer Lopez' mom pockets $2.4 million at the slots. How lucky can this family get?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening.
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: We begin with breaking news out of Iraq. Insurgents are fighting U.S. Marines right now in the western city of Ramadi. According to initial reports, the Marines are attacking several government buildings that were taken over earlier by insurgent forces.
As many as a dozen U.S. troops are dead says the Pentagon initial reports. They also say there were heavy enemy casualties. Events on the ground are moving fast and we're going to continue to follow this story as it develops over the next hour.
Right now three reports, Senior International Correspondent Walt Rodgers in Baghdad, next Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre following the action at the Pentagon. He's also got news of new threats on the live of Civilian Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer. And, from the White House, Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us actually from Crawford, Texas with the administration's reaction to events.
We begin, however, in Iraq, Walt what's the latest from Ramadi?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this is yet another revolt against the American military occupation of this country. Ramadi is 60 miles due west of Baghdad. It's in the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle where for the past year most of the resistance of the American occupation of this country has emanated from.
We're told that a few hours ago about 100 insurgents, Iraqi Sunnis, many of them perhaps from the old army of Saddam Hussein rose up, took -- tried to force their way into government buildings there. The usual target is the police station.
The U.S. Marines are responsible for defending that particular sector here in Iraq. The Marines were called in. We're told the fighting has been quite heavy and savage. Upwards of 12 Marines are now dead in that fighting. At least a dozen other Marines injured.
We're not at all clear whether the Marines have been able to drive off the insurgents at this point but it is, as I said, yet another example of the revolt against the -- the spreading revolt against the American military occupation of this country -- Anderson.
COOPER: Walt, let's talk about two other areas of interest right now, Fallujah and also the action against Sadr. What do you know about both those fronts?
RODGERS: Well, Fallujah is just a few miles east of Ramadi, again part of the Sunni Triangle and we know the Marines have launched yet another assault on that city.
Their aim, their target there and they've been fighting there about two days now has been to drive out the insurgents there, the Sunnis who were particularly responsible for the heinous killing of those four civilian contractors a week ago Wednesday. The fighting, as I say, continues there. That's a very tough town. If the Marines go door-to-door you can expect even higher casualties there.
As for Muqtada al-Sadr, the militant Shiite cleric who the United States now wants to try to arrest, he's moved his headquarters to an area very close to the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf and we're also told that his forces now control much of the area of al-Najaf itself.
Again, that's yet another revolt that one by Shiite Muslims and Sadr is wanted by the United States but he's very well protected by his own private army -- Anderson.
COOPER: We continue to monitor events very closely. Walter, we'll check back in with you shortly from Baghdad.
Jamie McIntyre is following the military side in Ramadi at the Pentagon. Jamie, reports are still coming in. What have you learned so far? JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're still waiting to hear whether all the fighting is over and calm has been restored there but, as Walter reported, as many as 12 Marines killed, possibly as many as 20 wounded and heavy enemy casualties inflicted as well in this firefight.
They believe they're dealing with here more of the former regime members, the Ba'athist sympathizers similar to those who have been putting up stiff resistance in Fallujah, a city about 25 miles to the east of Ramadi in the Sunni Triangle but the military at this point is still sorting out what has happened.
This will, though, go down as one of the deadliest days in Iraq, certainly one of the deadliest since major combat with these 12 Marines killed. When you add casualties in other parts of the country, including in Fallujah, it's likely to exceed the previous deadliest day, November 15th, in which 19 U.S. troops were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.
As Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said today, Anderson, there will be good days and bad days. Clearly here at the Pentagon they see this as a bad day -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jamie, we've also been following these reports about threats against the life of Ambassador Paul Bremer. What's the latest on that?
MCINTYRE: Yes, not just for Paul Bremer but also General John Abizaid, the U.S. Central Commander. Of course he's not in Iraq that often, Bremer is, and on a Web site today which is known as a clearinghouse for militant Islamic messages, an audio recording posted by a man claiming to be Abu Mussa al-Zarqawi, a close associate of Osama bin Laden, somebody that the Pentagon has identified as somebody they believe is behind some of these attacks saying that, according to the translation CNN has conducted that they are after John Abizaid. They are after Bremer.
"We will kill them and hunt them down like birds. We will cut off every road from them and just walk away," the language on this Web site, which although the U.S. government is still reviewing it, CNN's independent experts believe is in fact the voice of Zarqawi -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jamie McIntyre following fast-moving events at the Pentagon, thanks Jamie.
The Bush administration is following events in Iraq closely, of course. With us now from Crawford, Texas, White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, President Bush is at his Crawford ranch and he is being briefed on all of the developments on the ground in Iraq.
A White House spokesman tonight reiterating the president's message what he has been saying for days and for weeks that the "administration remains committed to finishing the job in Iraq. It is very clear from what the generals and commanders have said that they U.S. will respond in the time and fashion of our choosing."
Now, administration sources tell us that President Bush will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair next Friday at the White House. This is a meeting that was set up several weeks ago and is not in response to the chaos, the violence we've seen on the ground in Iraq over the last 72 hours.
But having said that, administration sources say that this will be priority number one in their talks. They're going to talk about the strategy to turn over power back to the Iraqi people. They'll also talk about how to work with the United Nations to come up with a workable governing body inside of Iraq that can handle that task and the importance of meeting that June 30 deadline.
President Bush earlier today speaking in general terms about the U.S. strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will pass sovereignty on June 30. We'll stay the course in Iraq. We're not going to be intimidated by thugs or assassins. We're not going to cut and run from the people who long for freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And administration officials say that that June 30 deadline still stands, why, because the Iraqis want it, because the U.S. said that it would go through with it. It's a matter of credibility. Also they want to internationalize the transformation.
They don't want an American face on this and also they say this is a political deadline, a political transition here. This has nothing to do with the military. They say that -- Secretary Rumsfeld assured that U.S. military presence will be inside that country for some time -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux in Crawford thanks very much.
CNN has confirmed that a plot to allegedly detonate a chemical bomb in Britain has been foiled, according to U.S. and U.K. sources. CNN Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar has the details from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Counterterrorism police have foiled an apparent plot to launch a chemical attack in Britain that according to U.S. and U.K. security sources who say the suspects had plans to lace a bomb with a chemical called osmium tetroxide. The plot was to combine that chemical with explosives that could create a toxic cloud on detonation. Sources told CNN police suspect such a device could have been used to target a shopping center, an airport terminal, a nightclub or a crowded city center. There is no suggestion by police sources that any osmium tetroxide was found in the possession of the suspects or that they had managed to obtain any.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman at Scotland Yard said they were not prepared to discuss the alleged plot. Chemical experts say osmium tetroxide is toxic, openly available and used primarily in research laboratories. It can give off a vapor which would (AUDIO GAP) lethal. This is the first time osmium tetroxide has been associated with an alleged terrorist plot.
British police have been given more time to question nine men in custody under the terrorism act. They were arrested last week and police recovered half a ton of fertilizer which can be used as an explosive.
On Tuesday afternoon, one of the nine, a 17-year-old, was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions with intent to injure or damage property. A lawyer for three of the detainees declined to comment.
Two men have been arrested elsewhere and, in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have issued a statement acknowledging that the arrest of a 24-year-old computer software designer in Ottawa is linked to the British arrests.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We continue to monitor events out of Iraq and we will bring you updates throughout the hour.
We're following also a number of developing stories right now "Cross Country." Let's take a quick look.
From coast to coast, you know what I'm going to say, gas prices hit an all time high again. AAA Auto Club reports the national average price for a gallon of self serve regular unleaded is $1.77, the highest price on record without factoring in inflation of course. It's a little more than six cents higher than it was at this time last year.
Seattle, Washington now, federal government sued. The ACLU has filed a complaint against the government's no-fly list. The list is meant to keep suspected terrorists off commercial airlines but the ACLU claims it leads to the harassment of innocent travelers.
In London, Kentucky, a deadly fiery crash. Police say two people were killed when a truck carrying chemicals hit a car, burst into flames late last night. A section of Interstate 75 was closed through the morning rush hour.
Tallahassee, Florida now, illegal immigrants driving legally. Governor Jeb Bush is endorsing a bill that would grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants provided they undergo a screening. Opponents are concerned about security but Bush says there are enough safeguards to prevent terrorists from getting the licenses.
And Chicago, Illinois, sex and cancer, a new study published in the "Journal of American Medical Associations" says frequent sexual activity does not cause prostate cancer. The study also says men who ejaculate often may be getting protection from the disease. That's a quick look at stories "Cross Country" for you tonight.
As many as 12 U.S. troops killed in Iraq today, the most intense fighting since the end of the war. Happening right now, monitoring the story closely, we're going to bring you updates as we get them.
Also from drought to downpour, the Midwest gets socked with flash flooding. Look at those pictures. We're going to go live to Austin, Texas for a report on how bad it is.
Plus, genocide in Rwanda, ten years ago today. How quickly we forget. I'm going to take you back ten years for a personal tour of the devastation.
And forgiveness, can it actually heal your body? You're going to meet one woman who says it has and a man who says he can teach you to forgive, part of our week long series "The Power of Forgiveness."
Before all that, let's take a quick look "Inside the Box," top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: Breaking news from Iraq, fierce fighting in the city of Ramadi. As many as 12 U.S. Marines dead after insurgents launched a large scale attack just hours ago.
It is not clear at this moment if the fighting continues. We're going to continue following the story. We're monitoring events from the Pentagon, also from Iraq. We're going to bring you updates as warranted.
But first let's move to what's going on in Texas, deadly storms crossed the Mexican border and made their way into the Lone Star state. Heavy rains, hail and wind slammed Texas streets, flooded the streets, power failed.
It was ugly. At least six people were killed in weather related accidents since the weekend. One woman died after her car was swept away by floodwaters. There are more flood warnings tonight.
James Keith of CNN affiliate News 8 Austin sets the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES KEITH, NEWS 8 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The morning commute got off to a bad start after several cars were swept away by flood. One driver spun out of control and ended up in about four feet of water. Police helped him out of the truck safely. Once crews got the truck out of the ditch he was able to drive away.
Farther up the highway the outcome wasn't so good. There was a deadly accident on 183 North of 2243. It happened around 5:30 in the morning. Emergency crews worked quick and had the scene cleared within a couple hours.
Strong winds in Williamston County caused many people to wake up in the dark. The winds caused trees to fall down on power lines.
ERIC POTEET, ROUND ROCK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, we had a fairly significant power outage, 5,000 residents lost power. Fortunately that was restored to them within an hour, hour and a half. As the morning rush hour came, we had a lot of problems with signal lights being out.
KEITH: The storms also tore up the landscape in one area of Cedar Park. Residents in the Hidden Valley subdivision found a lot of downed trees in the neighborhood.
And probably the worst damage from the storm was when lightning hit this house in the Steiner (ph) Ranch neighborhood. Take a look at this home video shot by News 8 viewer Carol Keith. Hudson Bend firefighters were able to get the fire under control in less than an hour. Neighbors say it was a frightening wake-up call.
CAROL KEITH, NEIGHBOR: Just watching my son take off for school with my husband and all of a sudden this humongous loud clap of thunder and lighting was instantaneous. It made us all jump.
My husband took my son up to school and then on his way back he said the house up the street has smoke coming out of the roof of it and so we ran to the front window and watched as it burst into flames.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH: And fortunately no one was living in that home and no one was injured. Forecasters do say we could see some more rain over the next few days but nothing like we saw today -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, James Keith. Thanks very much James.
In addition to the fighting in Iraq, we're tracking a number of developing stories around the globe right now. Let's quickly check the "Up Link."
Going to Madrid, Spain, security sweeps. Faced with new terror threats, soldiers are patrolling nuclear power plants, train lines and other key targets. In Madrid, police say they found the remains of a sixth suspect who blew himself up in a terror raid over the weekend.
Amman, Jordan, terror trial, a court convicts ten people for the 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Jordan. Eight of the ten sentenced to death. They were all found guilty of having links with al Qaeda. Kabul, Afghanistan, a jihad on drugs, President Hamid Karzai declares a holy war on the country's booming drug trade. Last year's harvest of opium poppies was the source of three-quarters of the world's heroin.
Geneva, Switzerland, top executioners in 2003, China, Iran, the U.S. and Vietnam put the most people to death according to Amnesty International. Eighty-four percent of all documented executions happened in those countries. The report did say the total number of executions worldwide has gone down.
And in Paris, a royal reception, Queen Elizabeth of England addresses the French Senate. That's her in the blue hat there. She calls for French and British unity in the face of today's terror threats. Her three-day visit is meant to ease tensions between the two countries, most recently over the war in Iraq. That's a quick look at tonight's "Up Link" for you.
Every Tuesday we look at a story the media seems to have forgotten about, "How quickly we forget." Tonight, we remember the genocide in Rwanda. As many as a million people killed in a matter of months. It began ten years ago today.
Back then I was a young reporter with Channel 1 News. I actually went into Rwanda with Tutsi rebels fighting to end the genocide by Hutu Rwandans. Some of the images you're about to see in this report are disturbing. This is what I saw ten years ago when I went to a Rwandan hospital in a town called Gahini (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The children's ward is crowded with members of the Tutsi minority, victims of attacking Hutus. They cut fingers from a child too young to walk. Annie Foray (ph) is a French doctor who has volunteered to work here despite a shortage of medicine and food.
What sort of wounds? How were they wounded, guns?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Unintelligible.)
COOPER: And where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In their head, in their -- especially in the foot because when you cut here the muscles you prevent the children to run. They cannot run.
COOPER: Why are they cutting off hands and fingers and ears? Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's wrong.
COOPER: Scattered throughout the countryside you find the bodies. Five people lay in a row, a family perhaps.
(on camera): When I was in Rwanda about a year and a half ago, as you drive down the road a lot of little kids would sort of run by and wave at you. Nowadays most of the people are all gone and the only people on the side of the roads are dead. The smell of rotting flesh is everywhere in the air.
(voice-over): You stare at the bodies, try to make sense of it, search for answers but you find none. All you find are more bodies and the silence, the silence is what gets to you, broken only by the sound of flies and the buzzards circling overhead waiting for you to leave.
(on camera): Just about everywhere in Rwanda, every road you go down there's just debris strewn all around, just the people's possessions, the remnants of their former life. Even right here, this is a casing for a machine gun. The bullets are still in it. It's an AK-47. A picture from a book, a picture of the pope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That was ten years ago. As many as a million people were slaughtered in just 100 days in Rwanda while much of the world stood by in silence. Today, around 80,000 prisoners remain in the country's overcrowded jails accused of genocide related crimes. Only 20 have been convicted.
We continue to follow the breaking news out of Iraq tonight. At least ten U.S. troops killed during a fierce firefight that's underway right now at last report in the city of Ramadi. We'll get the latest as it unfolds throughout the hour.
Plus coming up, the power of forgiveness," can it actually heal your body, part of our week long series.
Also tonight, Rush Limbaugh fighting to get his medical records back. Has he been singled out for being a celebrity?
And a little later, cancer labels on French fries? Why Californians may get a stern warning when they super size.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: Marines under fire in Iraq. At least a dozen dead after insurgents attack in Ramadi. Plus, death threats against American leaders. We're going to go live to Baghdad for the latest. That's coming up in just a few moments.
But first, this week as Christian and Jews around the world celebrate Holy Week and Passover, we continue our special series on forgiveness. Tonight, researchers are turning to the healing power of forgiveness to reduce stress, to prevent disease. In a moment we'll introduce you to an expert who teaches people how to forgive.
But first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us the story of a woman who says learning to forgive after a tragedy saved her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over the past 15 years it was the little things, like playing a quiet game with the family, that were almost impossible for Linda Marra. Her life and subsequently her health shattered when her father was murdered. The nightmares were etched into her brain for years.
LINDA MARRA, FATHER WAS MURDERED: My father lived through this homicide one time and I've lived through it 1,000 times.
GUPTA: The assailant was put in jail but for Linda that punishment didn't seem enough for her to forgive and an unforgiving heart took its toll. The first sign her hair turned gray at age 29.
MARRA: There was weight gain, insomnia, fatigue.
GUPTA: A teacher and mother of two, Linda realized her refusal to forgive could eventually kill her.
MARRA: It eats you alive from the inside out.
GUPTA: Un-forgiveness causes stress that not only permeates the mind but the body as well and that stress causes microscopic tears to form in artery walls which, over time, can cause a heart attack.
It also causes spikes in the stress hormone cortisol which can hurt your immune system and we're not just talking about stress stemming from horrific crimes but the build up from a day, an argument, getting cut off in traffic.
EVERETT WORTHINGTON, PSYCHOLOGIST: If a person begins to try to forgive more they can affect their health in a more positive way.
GUPTA: A University of Michigan study supports that. Men who are good at diffusing their anger had half as many strokes as angrier men. For Linda, forgiving her father's killer meant erasing her health problems. She says it was like being released from prison.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, our next guest is a pioneer in this field. Dr. Frederick Luskin, he's a psychologist and author of the book "Forgive for Good, a Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness." He's also co-founder of Stanford University's Forgiveness Project. I asked him what his research has taught his thus far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED LUSKIN, PH.D., CO-FOUNDER, STANFORD FORGIVENESS PROJECT: Forgiveness is a way of looking at the world that seems to reduce the stress on people's body and when the stress on people's body is reduced the body gets a better chance to heal itself or becomes less vulnerable to illness. COOPER: You talk about four steps that you recommend people can actually practice on their own. Let's go through them and talk about each one. The first step catch stress in the moment. What does that mean?
LUSKIN: That's the most important one. That is when you feel the memory or the bad feeling come up for you that's the moment that you got to work at it and we have found that if you stop the stress response where the body is getting excited or agitated if you can calm that down right that second then your mind can clear and you get a better chance to think and when you do that regularly you become less influenced or less hurt by what people have done to you.
COOPER: And the second step is accept what you cannot change, what do you mean?
LUSKIN: There are certain things in life that happen that are painful that may be even awful. There's nothing you can do about it. You need to accept that that's possible and true and save your energy for working and maybe trying to change things that can be changed.
COOPER: And step three, change the story.
LUSKIN: The way we keep things alive is how we talk about them and, if we talk about them in a way that say allows us to be continuously hurt by it, that's one way. What we teach people is go from victim to hero of their own story.
COOPER: And finally, the fourth step to forgiveness you talk about look for what's good and happy.
LUSKIN: Sometimes you have to look for the goodness. You have to look for kindness and you have to look for what's already working in your life and we teach people to make that effort to kind of put the hurt into balance.
COOPER: But you're not suggesting that, you know, someone loses a loved one through -- someone gets killed, you're not suggesting that automatically instantly they should feel a sense of forgiveness.
LUSKIN: No and, in fact, we define forgiveness as the end of the grief process and the grief process has to take its time, has to be felt and has to be experienced before you can even think about forgiveness.
COOPER: What's the biggest misconception about forgiveness?
LUSKIN: One is that forgiveness means you have to go home and get beaten again by someone or you have to come back into a relationship that's horrendous and that when you forgive it means that what happened to you is OK. Both of those are not true.
When you forgive it's forgiving something that wasn't OK. You come to peace about it and you don't have to ever return to a situation that was horrific or where you were beaten or abused. COOPER: And you know I mean some people who have experienced trauma get upset by this notion of forgiveness. We've received some e-mails already this week about this series. Are you saying someone who lost a loved one on 9/11 should forgive Osama bin Laden?
LUSKIN: There's no should. Everybody's got their own process. What we teach is that you really want forgiveness on your menu so that you can choose whether it's right for you.
COOPER: It's a fascinating topic. Fred Luskin thanks for being on the program.
LUSKIN: You're very welcome. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Our series on forgiveness continues tomorrow night with the look at cheating spouses. What do you do if you can forgive but you can't forget. How to heal a broken heart. That is tomorrow on 360. On Thursday, overcoming the pain of sexual abuse. Are some things unforgivable? We're going to hear from both sides of the debate. Then on Friday, can you ever really forgive yourself? You'll meet a woman who sent an innocent man to jail and is haunted to this day by guilt. All that coming up in our series.
Coming up later tonight, breaking news out of Iraq. As many as 12 marines have died. We'll go live to Baghdad when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Take a look at our top stories in tonight's reset. Ramadi, Iraq, the battle goes on. At last report the Pentagon says about a dozen marines have died in fighting in the western Iraq city of Ramadi. Insurgents attacked the marines' base there as well as captured several government buildings. We're going to go live to Iraq for a report in just a few moments.
Denver, Colorado. Kobe Bryant's ordeal. The NBA star's lawyer says he's had it pretty bad, too. In response to a plea from Bryant's accuser in the sexual assault case, attorneys for the basketball star say he's ready to get the trial over with also. They say Bryant's ordeal has been, quote, "indescribable."
New York City. The Tyco letter wasn't a threat. Police say the letter to the Tyco juror that caused the judge to declare a mistrial was not a threat to the woman. Investigators have spoken with the man who wrote the letter. They met with him after the trial ended.
Northern Mexico. More death from flooding. Rescue workers have pulled another three bodies from the wreckage of destroyed homes today. That brings the death toll there to 34. Flash floods ripped through the normally arid area on Tuesday. A dozen people are still missing. The death toll could go higher. That's a look at today's reset.
Now to the breaking news out of Iraq. Marines in a pitched battle against Iraqi insurgents. We've been following this all hour. Some are calling it the stiffest opposition since the official end to major combat. Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us now from Baghdad with the latest. Walter, what do you know?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson. The marines do, indeed, have a difficult scrap on their hands tonight. Difficult fighting because it is street to street, it is night and the marines are fighting in unfamiliar territory. The territory is Ramadi, a town about 60 miles west of Baghdad. It is in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. That area has been the head and target resistance against the U.S. military occupation for the last year. What we're told is that several hours ago, a group of upwards of 100 Sunni insurgents seized government buildings in Ramadi. Presumably, one of those was the police station. That's the normal target.
They've seized those governments buildings. This is the U.S. marine sector of responsibility. The marines were called in to eject the insurgents. Savage fighting broke out. We're told that upwards of 12 marines have been killed already. At least that many have been injured. The casualties for the Iraqis are said to be even higher. The resistance in Ramadi is believed to be old members of the Baathist party that Saddam Hussein's party and actually members of the old Iraqi army -- Anderson.
COOPER: Tough day for U.S. forces on the ground. Walter Rodgers, we'll check in with you again, thanks very much.
Justice served. Tomorrow in Florida, attorneys for Rush Limbaugh will argue in court what the radio host has been arguing on the airwaves, that his privacy rights were violated when prosecutors seized his medical records. Limbaugh, of course, under investigation for buying massive amounts of prescription pain killers. CNN's Susan Candiotti is following the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attorney Roy Black is leading a spirited defense. Black asks why Limbaugh is being criminally pursued when other admitted drug addict celebrities including singer Whitney Houston apparently are not.
ROY BLACK, LIMBAUGH'S ATTORNEY: Why is it that Rush Limbaugh, they demand to plead guilty to a crime? That's because they want to embarrass him and disgrace him and discredit him. That's the only reason why.
CANDIOTTI: Law enforcement sources deny political motives. They say they could not ignore serious allegations by Limbaugh's former housekeeper who then sold her story to a tabloid. She claims she illegally sold Limbaugh thousands of prescription pain killers, a possible felony.
MICHAEL MCAULIFFE, ATTORNEY: A prosecutor's office is investigating a person for abuse of prescription drugs. Do you think that the prosecutor's office should get to take a look at that person's records of prescription drug use?
CANDIOTTI: All along, prosecutors have insisted they've done everything by the book. An appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments over whether Limbaugh's medical records were improperly seized. If prosecutors lose, they will not say how that could affect their high-profile investigation. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Covering the case for us tonight, 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney has called this a fishing expedition, he's also called it a smear pain. Does he have a point?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: I hate to say it, I think he does actually because there's two ways they could have gone about doing this. This all came to light because of the "Enquire" article and then Rush Limbaugh went on the air to defend himself and say he had a problem and he was going to address it.
Prosecutors then chose to go by way of a search warrant. What Roy Black is saying is that's not the way it should have been done. They should have gotten a subpoena. The judge would have held the documents, reviewed it and he would have been on notice and they could come in to argue to say the prosecutors couldn't get that information. Without this, if this -- if these judges suppress this information and these medical records, they have no case.
COOPER: And no charges have been filed. That's what I keep coming back to. There are no charges.
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: No charges in this case. There's why he's calling it a fishing expedition. And without this information -- keep in mind, we all go to the doctor every day. Imagine if you had to worry about someone going in behind your back without your knowledge, no notice here, and taking your records and combing through your personal things.
COOPER: So without these medical records does the prosecution even have a case even though they don't have a case now because they haven't filed any charges?
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think it's going to be difficult to go forward. I would imagine they would not proceed forward with charges and that's why this is such a huge issue. My goodness, strange bedfellows, the ACLU is standing in line to support Rush Limbaugh in this case.
COOPER: The records are seized with a search warrant signed by two different judges. What's the likelihood they're going to get the warrant thrown out?
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: You know, trial judges and judges at that level, everyone makes mistakes, right? That's why we have all this case law. So it goes to this three-judge panel and they'll decide if it was appropriate. This deals directly with the fundamental right of privacy. On balance is the prosecution's right to conduct criminal investigations and they say we don't have to give defendants notice that we're coming after him. Rush put himself out there in the public light like so many others have that are later used against them.
COOPER: He continues to talk about it on his radio program. Can that stuff can be used -- I suppose, of course, it can be used in court. If it has any bearing on it.
GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: We've seen so many people get out and talk on court or on TV about their -- Martha Stewart, Scott Peterson, all these things can be used against them and that's what we saw with Martha Stewart, the charges brought as a result of the things she said. They say, hey, you lied to the government and you went out on public airwaves and said you didn't do anything wrong. This affected the stock price. Now we see the same thing happening over and over again. It begs the question of the role of the media and some of these newspapers, et cetera, have in the role of cases, even with the Tyco juror.
COOPER: All right. If I'm ever convicted I'm not going to say a word. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, thanks very much.
A second lease on life. Conjoined twins make it through a risky operation and go home as separate individuals. A remarkable story. We'll talk to one of the doctors who performed the life-saving surgery.
Also tonight, they're not exactly health food, but are they cause for cancer?
Find out why Californians may soon find warning labels on their french fries. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, they are living apart and that is a good thing. Two formerly conjoined Egyptian twins are now home, separated in Dallas last October in an operation that lasted 34 hours. Yesterday, doctors announced the defense twins were discharged last month and are back with their family. Joining us now in Dallas, and to discuss the separation process and what happens now, Dr. David Genecov, medical director of the International Craniofacial Institute. Appreciate you being on the program, doctor.
These two little kids, Mohamed and Ahmed, they have been discharged, are they out of the woods?
DR. DAVID GENECOV, INTERNATIONAL CRANIOFACIAL INSTITUTE: Well, I don't know if they're necessarily out of the woods. They still have surgeries to undergo later this summer and they still have a lot of physical and occupational therapy to undergo. So, I wouldn't say they're out of the woods, but we're cautiously optimistic they're going to do very well long term.
COOPER: How long a process of surgeries and reconstructive surgeries are involved here? We see them now in these images wearing helmets. I mean, how long will they have to do that?
GENECOV: Well, they wear their helmets until the reconstruction of their skulls has been completed and their skulls have reossified (ph) or gotten harder and turned to normal bone.
COOPER: Sir, pardon my ignorance on this, do they not have part of their skull on the top of their head or what is there?
GENECOV: Right. Imagine taking a coke can and cutting it in half. Both ends are now open and that's the way their skulls were after the separation. So the brains were covered with tissue from their thighs and from around their skull as well as their scalp. As large scalp flaps were created to cover the brain. So that's going to allow healing to take place to last at least a minimum of six months until the surgeons believe they'll be ready for their next operation.
COOPER: And we saw them in that video playing. They looked, you know, like regular kids. Are they going to be able to lead, if all goes well, completely functional lives?
GENECOV: We hope that they'll lead completely functional lives. Their favorite sport now is basketball. They love to play basketball. They're not like any different from any other 3-year-old boys. One of them is walking well. The other one is standing and learning to walk. I think over the next few years with good therapy, they should do quite well.
COOPER: They're going to have to grow a little bit taller to get better at basketball. Doctor Genevoc, appreciate you joining us talking about the surgery, thank you very much.
GENECOV: Thank you.
COOPER: Now, to a political hot potato, whether to warn consumers about a possible link between cancer and french fries. Those golden greasy spuds and other starchy foods are at the center of a super-sized squabble.
Rusty Dornin explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You might call it a national pastime.
Ed Kelly, does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're going to stop eating french fries, I don't know what's going on happen.
DORNIN: Everyone knows they're not exactly health mood but the detection of a potential carcinogen called acrylamide, might force the state of California to require this Phillip Papadopoulos and other restaurant owners to post signs informing customers. PHILLIP PAPADOPOULOS, THE JAVA HOUSE: I still say it's stupid. Because after this, it will be something else and something else and something else, and we have to have nothing but signs. And that doesn't make any sense.
DORNIN: The signs in California are everywhere. Under proposition 65, businesses even parking garages must post signs cautioning about hazardous substances. Acrylamide is known to cause cancer in rats but the risk to humans is unknown. French fries is not the only known culprit. The chemical that form during cooking, is in everything from olives to breads and almonds and cereal. Researchers say they can't prove whether there's a risk. That posture is too risky for this environmental attorney Daphael Metzger. He's filed suit against Burger King and McDonald's saying they should put warnings right on french fry containers.
DAPHAEL METZGER, ATTORNEY: People have a right to know if food that they buy causes cancer so they can make informed decisions about their health.
DORNIN: Don't expect caution signs your favorite California burger joint any time soon. The attorney general is investigating and so is the FDA. And if talk of clogged arteries and heart problems hasn't stopped some consumers, why should we expect this latest scare to be any different?
PAPADOPOULOS: Hmm. What a way to die.
DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A pop star and a jackpot. JLo's mom hits it big on the slots. I have to ask you, can the Lopez family get any luckier?
And an aging rocker selling lingerie?
Bob Dylan, we're going to tell you about his latest plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, after officials in Inglewood, California, snubbed Wal-Mart's plans to build one of its superstores there, Wal-Mart decided to take its proposal to the people, putting the issue on the ballot. Right now, California voters are heading to the polls to either embrace or snub the retail giant's westward expansion. Frank Buckley has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an especially ambitious plan, even for the giant Wal-Mart, because the company is trying to develop this huge site without submitting to the normal development process. No environmental impact reports, no traffic studies, no public hearings. Voters will decide directly on a 71-page ballot initiative that outlines the project in detail. BOB MCADAM, WAL-MART, VP OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: We get approval to build this store, it will meet every single or exceed every single code in the city of Inglewood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to save your business.
BUCKLEY: Opponents include the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: Wal-Mart has disrespected Inglewood.
BUCKLEY: Others say Wal-Mart is trying to steamroll the project over the city's elected leaders.
REV. ALTAGRACIA PEREZ, COALITION FOR BETTER INGLEWOOD: It is 71 pages of legal fine print that seeks to cut the community out of its own development process.
BUCKLEY: Wal-Mart's Bob McAdam says the company chose this approach when city council members signaled they wouldn't support the project no matter what.
MCADAM: This is not in any kind of an end run. It's just the normal process of letting voters decide.
BUCKLEY: Mayor Roosevelt Dorn is the project's only supporter on the city council. He says opposition to the project has less to do with the process and more to do with labor unions opposing Wal-Mart's non-union work force.
MAYOR ROOSEVELT DORN, MAYOR OF INGLEWOOD: The issue is, they do not want groceries sold in this development unless they're union. They're interested in what? Union dues.
BUCKLEY: Wal-Mart officials hope that consumers will support their stores, not just with their wallets this time, but also with their votes.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Inglewood, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, on a day of tough news, like we had today, we'd like to add some lighter fare, so let's dip our toes for a moment in the pop culture "Current." See what's going on.
Bob Dylan is singing for a thong. Yep, the legendary rocker is featured in the latest television ads for Victoria's Secret. This news item will be bagged, tagged and entered into evidence to prove yet again rock'n'roll is dead.
Kelly Osbourne has checked into rehab for a dependence on painkillers. "The L.A. Times" also reports that Ozzy Osbourne is accusing a Beverly Hills doctor of overprescribing him addictive drugs. Osbourne reportedly blames the drugs for his bizarre and erratic behavior on the reality show "The Osbournes." No explanation, however, for what caused his bizarre and erratic behavior on "Bark at the Moon."
'70s super group Abba -- or is it Abba? I think it's Abba. Says nothing, not even $2 billion, could convince the band members to get back together. In an unrelated story, I'm pleased to announce that the 360 bake sale to raise money to prevent Abba from reuniting was a smashing success. Thanks for all your cookies.
And an L.A. judge clears the way for Courtney Love's trial on drug charges next month. The case can go forward because the judge has allowed some key evidence to be presented. It's believed the evidence is any footage of any public appearance Love has ever made in her life, ever.
Well, how lucky can one family be? J.Lo is no longer the only Lopez on the block with the million-dollar moves. Her mother, Guadalupe, a retired kindergarten teacher, hit the $2.4 million jackpot in Atlantic City. She's reportedly a longtime gambling fan. Adaora Udoji has the winning story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's luck in a casino, and then there's luck. That's what Guadalupe Lopez, mom of superstar J.Lo, discovered here on the ritzy floors of an Atlantic City casino. Surrounded by friends, not including her famed daughter, she scored big on this wheel of fortune.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her immediate reaction was a little more humbled and quiet and more of a surprised reaction. The people around her did the hooting and the hollering and the screaming.
UDOJI: A $2.4 million purse. That's a pot of gold to most people. Not for the family of a pop star with hit music videos.
When you consider her thespian daughter's estimated worth at $100 million, it's a relative drop in the bucket.
On the block, the Capitol Hill neighborhood of the Bronx, some wondered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Weird coincidence. Very weird.
UDOJI: Back before the Hollywood movies and hit albums, Jennifer Lopez lived in this simple house and her mother taught at the nearby Catholic elementary school. The Lopezes still visit occasionally, say neighbors, who are thrilled about the casino windfall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be so happy because I know Ms. Lopez. She is a nice lady, very nice to everybody around here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's cool, that's nice. They got more money now.
UDOJI (on camera): You think they need it? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UDOJI (voice-over): It's not about need. It's about making it, and the folks here love happy endings.
(on camera): So what did you think of that story?
BENNY LORENZO, LOPEZ NEIGHBOR: Beautiful. I'm going to be next.
UDOJI (voice-over): Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So the biggest thing I'm surprised about is that Adaora Udoji called Jennifer Lopez a thespian. I think that's probably the first time she's ever been called a thespian. I don't know.
Still ahead, he was called the father of the Green Berets and his contribution to the U.S. military will not soon be forgotten. We'll take the legacy of a soldier to "The Nth Degree."
Plus, tomorrow, should you forgive a cheating spouse? One couple shares their journey from betrayal to reconciliation. Our special series on forgiveness continues tomorrow on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking a special soldier to "The Nth Degree." You probably don't recognize Colonel Aaron Bank, but what he did for this country is remarkable. In 1939, when war clouds were brewing over Europe, Bank joined the Army. When the war came, he volunteered for hit-and-run missions behind Nazi lines. Bank served in Korea as well, but the war he will most be remembered for waging and winning was a bureaucratic one. Despite stiff opposition in the Pentagon, Bank helped create an train the Army's special forces, the Green Berets. If it wasn't clear to some at the time why America needed elite units trained in unconventional warfare, it is certainly clear now. Colonel Bank died Thursday at the age of 101. He was a husband and a father, not just to his two daughters, but to thousands of special forces soldiers who followed in his footsteps.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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